Bethel custodian Brad Johnson smiles as chats with his wife while cleaning the ping pong table in Arden Village at 8:00 a.m. on May 11. Everyday Brad and Hilda clean both Arden Village west and east together before they part to clean Getsch and Edgren. “My wife cleans west and I clean east in Arden Village, actually we kinda work together,” Johnson said. “It’s the one spot that we can.” | Photo by Alyssa Mitchell

For the love of the students

Resident hall custodians Brad and Hilda Johnson want to do more for students than clean resident halls.

By Alyssa Mitchell | Royal Reports

Brad Johnson crawls out of bed at 3 a.m., walks downstairs and gets on the treadmill as the TV plays in the background. He eats his cereal, puts on his Facilities Management shirt, jeans and boots, and heads to Bethel University with his wife Hilda, where they both work as resident hall custodians.

Johnson balances the vacuum in one hand and opens the door for students with the other. With a smile, he greets the students walking into Getsch Hall.

The two begin their day by cleaning Arden Village together before they part ways to clean Getsch and Edgren Hall. Hilda has been cleaning for seven years and Brad for less than a year.

He grew up near Cushing, population of 65, on a dairy farm where he fed and milked the cows, cleaned the barn and helped his dad bail hay. The second oldest of seven kids, he went to school in a two-room schoolhouse, where the first- through third-graders were in one classroom and the fourth- through eighth-graders were packed into the other. He graduated from Little Falls High School in 1969.

During this time, the U.S. military drafted men to serve in the Vietnam War. Johnson remembers his draft number: six out of 365. He enlisted himself into the Air Force and began in March of 1972. Working as a weapons mechanic, Johnson’s role included loading bombs into planes. He served in a base in Michigan, Thailand and finished up in Florida in March of 1974.

“We went to their house and had dinner, the joke is I never left.” -Brad Johnson, Resident hall custodian

During his service, Hilda attended Florida State University to pursue a degree in nursing. The church Hilda and her family attended started a program where members of the church would invite single military servicemen to eat dinner at their homes. Johnson and two other men went to Hilda’s sister’s home for dinner on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 1974.

“The joke is I never left,” Johnson said.

“42 years later and he still hasn’t left,” Hilda said.

Brad and Hilda pose for a photo in their church in 1981. “I decided, well, yeah, I think this is gonna work,” Brad said. “And it did. We’ve been married coming up on 42 years.” | Photo submitted by Brad Johnson

After they got married, they moved to Minnesota and after a few years and a few jobs, Johnson ended up at Bethel. He was looking into working for the grounds crew and completed a degree in biblical and theological studies. During his four years, he worked as a student post office worker, and continued for 23 years after graduating.

Brad, Hilda and their son Christopher pose for a picture taken at Brad’s graduation from Bethel University in 1992. Christopher later graduated from Bethel in 2005. “My major was Biblical and Theological studies, I was partly thinking, well maybe I would want to go onto seminary,” Brad said. “I did well in school, fine at writing all the papers and everything, but I just thought ‘I can’t see myself as a pastor.’ ” | Photo submitted by Brad Johnson

“He did more for people around here than they will ever know,” Post Office Manager Jeff Swenson said.

Hilda worked as a nurse for 30 years before stumbling upon a job at Bethel. She happened upon the job posting while searching Bethel in attempts to learn how to use the computer. She applied and has been working as resident hall custodian since 2009.

“I thought, ‘Well, if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.’ ” -Brad Johnson, resident hall custodian

Eventually, Johnson was ready to leave the post office and talked to Hilda, who advised him to join her on the job. He prayed God would give him a sign. A little while later, his friend clipped an ad for custodial positions at Bethel out of the Pioneer Press and sent it to Johnson on a whim.

“I thought, ‘Well if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is,’ ” Johnson said.

Their favorite part of the job is working with students.

“You kids are so fun. I wish I would have known 30 years ago that 18-year-olds are this fun,” Hilda said. “This has been just such a delightful place to be for me.”

Advice they would give to college students is to enjoy each stage of life as it comes and to not sweat the small stuff.

“These are fun years. Enjoy them together, and enjoy every minute of it,” Hilda said. “But it gets better. It’s a whole lot more fun after college.”

Quick facts:

Brad’s favorite TV Shows: NCIS: New Orleans, Big bang theory, Castle

Brad’s favorite books: Vince Flynn, Murder mysteries, Christian fiction

Jobs Brad has had: Carpenter, post office worker (In FL and MN), went to two year technical college, worked in state parks, worked in Admissions at Bethel, resident hall custodian